NFL News: Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams calls out Rob Chudzinski

Last season, Rob Chudzinski was the offensive coordinator for the lowly Carolina Panthers. Although they had an exciting young quarterback in Cam Newton, he’s already been called out by veteran receiver Steve Smith.

This time, it was running back DeAngelo Williams’ turn in line to call out Chud. In an article Tuesday afternoon from David Newton at ESPN.com, the former Memphis Tigers star pointed fingers fairly directly at the new Browns head coach:

“I’m not going to start anything or push anything out there. I can say this, though — a different offensive coordinator. I can definitely say that. The last offensive coordinator got rid of his starting running back.”

“Did I take a shot? Or did I speak facts? A shot is just like it can be factual but it’s really not. That was all facts. I wasn’t taking a shot at him — he knows what he’s doing.”

“You tell me what the difference is in 2013 versus 2012.”

Williams, now 30 years old, ranks third in the NFL with 291 rushing yards through Carolina’s first three games. The team is only 1-2, but just dominated the New York Giants 38-0 at home this past Sunday. They have a Week 4 bye.

The ESPN article shared that Chudzinski “was instrumental” in the Browns’ controversial trade of star running back Trent Richardson last week to Indianapolis. Williams’ comments about taking a shot were in reference to that trade and how he didn’t intend to criticize Chudzinski for that move.

Yet, the other comments do mirror Smith’s earlier remarks about Chudzinski supposedly holding back the Carolina offense in 2012. Cleveland was off to a slow start to the 2013 season, but burst through with a myriad of trick plays and impressive offensive performances during a 31-27 win in Minnesota.

Jacob Rosen is a long-time contributor to WaitingForNextYear. He's also a writer online at SportsAnalyticsBlog and Nylon Calculus . An Akron native, Jacob is a current MBA student at the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. You can follow him on Twitter @WFNYJacob or e-mail him at udjrosen(at)gmail(dot)com.

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Makes sense. Chud would intentionally hold back the Carolina offense so that he could get a head coaching job… Laughable. I think I may start to decrease my productivity because I want a raise and want to get promoted.

WFNY_DP

I was just going to say this, too. It’s like anytime anyone starts to tell a bad joke with, “I’m not racist, but…”

*Note: That’s an 8-way tie, and only 3 TD’s separate 5th from 29th right now. It’s a bit too early to rank that one.

Wow

I’m sure Chud was the problem with that team..

Bcoop

Actually I think that’s a legit gameplan at some companies I’ve worked for!

Ezzie Goldish

So in essence, Chud ran an efficient passing offense that when it ran, ran efficiently, while the current O just runs more (making DeAngelo happy) and yet is far less efficient overall.

I’m totally cool with that.

nj0

So Chud was more concerned with the offense as a whole rather than padding one player’s stats? What a terrible coach.

TroubleBaby

The Panthers win one game, against a team with arguably the worst offensive line in the league that keeps their not so great D on the field all the time, and now their “offensive problems” are all solved….lol

Let’s see how the Panthers do the next 3 games and reflect on the truth of Williams statement(which I’m sure he’s been dying to make for some time) after that.

This is what’s really troubling me about the Browns’ O right now, actually. Chud did a great job of having an efficient O in Carolina in terms of YPA and YPC, and the Browns seem to really be struggling with the same. (Though defensively they’re absolutely fantastic – 2nd in YPC and 6th in YPA I believe.)

On the flip side, I’m perfectly willing to accept that that’s because of Richardson (hence the trade) and Gordon in Games 1-2 and Weeden not being there for Game 3.

I’d also be really curious to see if the Browns’ pass/run splits in terms of plays is similar to Carolina from the past couple seasons.

Natedawg86

Williams gets yards, just not TDs. Tolbert is subbed in as RB on goalline. Someone tried to trade me Williams for Wilson and i almost bit, but redzone attempts are taken away from Williams.

saggy

2 words: Oneil Cousins.

Ezzie Goldish

True. Watch some film from this past week – he still stinks. Can’t wait for Lavauo…

Matt

“You tell me what the difference is in 2013 versus 2012.”

Does this guy know that they have only played 3 games and their record is 1-2?

stonedpimp

take away the yards cam ran for and we in bottom.

Sam

The panthers are the only team not from Cleveland that I consider myself a fan of (long story).

What DeAngelo said stands up in terms of the difference between this year and last.

Our OC this year prefers a more traditional RB driven offense, whereas last year we were notorious for running the read option way too much. We had a lot of rushing yards, but Cam had a lot of them and we didn’t feature DeAngelo very much, which was frustrating considering he is a good back and when we gave him carries in week 17 he had 210 rushing yards.

I liked Chud, but I think his offense Isn’t as suited for a roster with a RB like Trent in that the RB doesn’t have as large a role in his offense. Same goes for Carolina, J-Stew and DeAngelo did not get many carries and it was somewhat aggravating. I think that’s a big reason he traded Trent, bc he would be underutilized in Chud’s offense.

I don’t really see what the big deal is herea

Sam

Chud was a good OC for the Panthers, I don’t think there is any arguing that.

That said, you are citing 2010 stats…a year with Jimmy Clausen starting at QB, and a year we lost DeAngelo after 6 games. Not much that any OC can do with that.

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